The Diego Diaries: Go (623)
-0-At a staff meeting
Then he paused. It was at that moment he winced which was followed by a bellow.
Everyone in the room froze, then glanced at Prowl who sat hunched over in his chair. They stared at him, then their optics turned almost as one to Ratchet. He had already whipped out a meter to scan Prowl. Optimus on the other hand sat frozen in his chair. "Well, Prowler, you sure know how to frag up a meeting," Ratchet drolled with a smirk.
Prowl glanced up, his optics on the fritz for a moment. "Its a day early."
"Prowler time," Ratchet said standing. "I think you have time to sit a while here before the readings say to bend over and cough." He looked at Prime. "He isn't in a rush. The readings are miniscule. This could also be the sparkling saying hello."
Gypsy who had moved to stand behind Prowl read her own data. "I concur."
"But should we go to the hospital? I think it might be wise," Prime said with gathering emotions.
"We can stay here and get important things out of the way, then go there, Optimus. There isn't a rush just yet. Gypsy, plug into Prowl so we can monitor him," Ratchet said.
She pulled a kit from subspace, then found what she needed. Plugging it into Prowl's neck, she moved to sit, a meter in front of her. "You have a way to go, Prowl."
Everyone stared at Ratchet, then Prime who looked doubtful, then Prowl who was beginning to pull himself together. "I think we need to cover the most dire things, then gather again for the other. Of course, you can continue without my presence."
"As if," Ratchet said with a smirk.
Prowl glanced up at him, then smirked himself. "I know. Imposing aren't I?"
Chuckles met that as everyone relaxed including a paralyzed Venture sitting next to an expectant Starscream. Prime relaxed slightly, then nodded. "Ironhide, please run the agenda."
Ironhide nodded, then glanced at his own. "Herling? Did you have more?"
"Not at the moment, Ironhide. The Genitor-Teacher meeting is three orns from now with the usual time and place. You are invited," he said.
"The business reports … are there details to discuss or can they be submitted?" Ironhide asked as he watched Prowl warily out of the corner of his optic. That winger was sitting in his chair listening as he rubbed his chassis.
Caro shook his helm. "Nothing that can't keep. I am doing quarterly reports and we have a massive amount of money on Earth to deal with. I am getting together with Magnus and Venture to discuss this prior to meeting with Sam Witwicky and Warren Roberts. We have investment ideas among which are helping countries with struggling populations."
Prime nodded. "Venture?"
Venture glanced from Prowl to Prime. "Uh, Caro pretty much summed it up. We have a lot of assets on Earth which need management. We are working out the numbers before sitting down with our human consultants."
"Okay," Ironhide said. "The Armory is working at full capacity. We have met and exceeded expectations and are working on remote weapons to place in different locations in our sphere of influence. Wheeljack and Perceptor have part of that story. Suffice it to say, Munitions is at peak."
Wheeljack nodded. "We are planning to put remotely controlled gun installations here and there along the perimeter of our sphere of influence. We want to have the element of surprise. If we can bloody up those coming this way, perhaps we can discourage them or show them the error of their ways by upping the cost of their arrival."
Prime nodded. "Let me know how this works. We have plenty of ships in the inventory that can be consolidated to make bigger ones. If they are remotely capable of fighting, then it makes not only more opportunity for us, it saves on lives."
Perceptor nodded. "That is the next logical step. We will set up a lab on Ceres and start there."
"Medical?" Ironhide said glancing at Ratchet.
He was sitting on his chair relaxing as he monitored the grim winger across the table. Ratchet grinned. "Prowl is beginning separation."
Snorts and chuckles greeted that. Ironhide case him a gimlet optic. "Thanks for the obvious, old mech. What else?"
"Some slagger got stupid last night at Club Cybertron and broke his oaths including the one to the Matrix. I don't know how you feel about that, Optimus but the Matrix was fragged. He died immediately and was burned so completely inside that his armor was hollow. I haven't seen anything that can do that, not even massive exposure to plasma. I would discourage this from happening again. It ruined our party."
Springer snickered. "Nice one."
"I have resigned myself to the fact that whenever I am trying to enjoy myself some dumb aft will ruin it," Ratchet said. "I vaguely remember having a private life somewhere."
"Is that all, old mech?" Ironhide asked.
"No. Our hospital ratings using the standard applied to the Iacon Military Medical Center on Cybertron, the gold standard of medical establishments I might add puts us in the top 5%. We meet or exceed every level of established practice expected. Kudos to my staff and kudos for Gypsy who has become a phenon at Metroplex Femme."
She grinned. "Thank you, Ratchet. I have so many good doctors and nurses, aides, orderlies and techs. It is my dream come true to lead such a facility."
Everyone grinned at her, this most delightful individual, then Ironhide turned to Springer. "Your turn."
He grinned. "We had a run of drunks, mostly former 'Cons who were celebrating the completion of two of the new towers in City 1. We are training and will graduate a new class of Watch officers who will be deployed with regulars to learn the trade on the street. So far, no murders or crimes against property. Everyone is pretty much minding their manners. The mech who committed suicide by Matrix is the only anomaly. High castes appear to have calmed down. The younglings under watch no longer socialize and one of them got a job in Tyger Pax, at the grocery store there to facilitate this change. So, all in all, we're good."
Ironhide nodded, then glanced at Coln-2, Blackstone and Barron. "Anything to add?"
"Nothing really. We have petitions to submit to the Office of the Prime from prisoners seeking citizenship. We are also finished with researching the law behind the Convocation proposition. We will be able to consult and assist on that event if you chose to carry through on it, sir," Barron said nodding respectfully.
"Thank you, Barron … gentlemen. I will keep you apprised," Prime said glancing at Prowl who silently winced.
They cleared up the rest, then excused the civilians who said they would see Prowl at the hospital later. When they were gone, the doors closed and the talk of their biggest problems began.
"We have a problem with Gliese 581 g," Prime began. "It is in the wrong place. What is the status of the other planets, the area debris and other issues?"
"Only Gliese 581 g is a seeded planet," Wheeljack said as Perceptor nodded.
"Then the first priority is figuring out how to move it, how much damage to the planet that will incur, where to put it relative to us, how not to excite the humans too much by doing so and how to utilize it to our advantage. I would like to know if there is any format of life to be found, organic or otherwise on its surface or below ground," Prime said thinking aloud.
"We have done surface scans and subsurface down 70 miles. There is nothing there that can qualify as life. There are subsurface pools of water with the various amino acids that might in time develop into the simplest of life forms but nothing beyond that. Life on this planet though reasonably habitable for technologically advanced life formats nonetheless is not at this point in possession of life," Wheeljack said.
Perceptor nodded. "I concur," he said in his way.
Prime nodded. "That is a great relief. I would like Sciences to make its transference to our solar system a top priority. I realize that there are caveats for this planet that won't exist for Cybertron. It is imperative that we do not allow this planet to fall into Decepticon hands. I would suggest that you find a way to put it into the Oort Field like an independent cosmic feature in a place that will not allow the gravity well of this stellar body to act upon it adversely. It will be hard enough to explain to the humans how an entire planet came to rest in this system without having it break away and head for the sun."
"We will automatically lose a number of surface features such as the water and some content due to a shift in gravitational pull. We could come apart at the seams," Wheeljack said glancing at Beachercomber who nodded.
"Maybe you should talk to Michael Bay," Ironhide said with a smirk. "Did you notice that they were bringing Cybertron into Earth's actual atmosphere? How about techtonic forces there."
Beachcomber snorted, then grinned. "The attraction of two large bodies that close together would have been a stupendous fail if completed. I think Cybertron was closer than Earth's moon in that shot."
Ironhide nodded. "It was. Bey is to science what I am to sports cars."
Chuckles were had, then Wheeljack looked to Prime. "We are on it. We can bridge it to a place in the Oort Field that can handle that sort of body that close. We will also be dealing with an object big enough to take hits from passing debris, comets and other large bodies."
Prime nodded. "I know. Let me know what we can do. Perhaps we can bridge it closer but not close enough to be part of this system's attractive force."
"We will run a number of scenarios," Perceptor said nodding.
"I heard, Optimus, from unnamed sources such as Charlotte Mearing that the humans are going to make a big push to settle humans here in a permanent town or installation. It is the usual suspects I am told," Ratchet said.
"Oh great," Prowl said sourly.
"Truly," Ratchet replied. "I would suggest Blaster and Jazz that you monitor the airwaves to find out what is going to start filtering up into the commentariat."
Jazz nodded. "We will."
"If we can have a heads up, then it will help," Prime said.
"The migration?" Ironhide asked.
"It's still coming," Prowl said musing over the data. "I will give the problem over to you, Paragon," he said glancing down the table at the silent elegant figure of the former Decepticon.
He nodded. "I will keep the Prime apprised."
Prime nodded. "That covers most of the important items. I am glad that there will be homes for anyone who comes with the next two migrations and that the science is being gathered for Gliese 581 g. I cannot stress how important that planet is to the balance of power now. If the Decepticons ever come to find out that it is there no one anywhere will be safe from them." He looked at Paragon who sat with a pensive expression. "You will do Prowl's shift alone. I will be with him in the hospital at Metroplex. I will come for any call."
Paragon nodded. "I understand," he said as everyone began to stand up.
"Let's go to the hospital," Prime said to Prowl.
They rose and turned filtering out the door, most of them heading toward Metroplex Elder, Femme, Youngling and Sparkling Hospital and the separation of a new phenomenon, the first femme born to a Prime in the history of their people.
It would not take long to get out into the community.
-0-TBC February 14, 2014 HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY TO ALL! This is the second time we have reached number 623 and there are no signs that it won't take the story. HUZZAH!